Joe Theismann

Battle of the Gridiron Stars is a television show that airs on ESPN. It pits teams of National Football League players, one from the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference, against each other in various athletic events. The program, which takes its inspiration from the likes of Battle of the Network Stars and The Superstars, is produced by IMG, the world's leading sports management firm. The show takes place at Disney's Wide World of Sports in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. Each team is coached by a former NFL quarterback: Archie Manning coaches the National team, and Ken Stabler coaches the American team. Battle began in the spring of 2005 as ESPN sought replacement programming for the National Hockey League, which was in the midst of a lockout that would cost the league its entire season. Because of good ratings, and also in light of ESPN losing the NHL rights to OLN, the series was renewed in 2006. Due to licensing restrictions, no actual team names or game highlights are used on the program.

Jim Rome Is Burning was a sports conversation and opinion show hosted by Jim Rome. Debuting on May 6, 2003 as Rome Is Burning, it was originally a weekly show in primetime at 7:00 PM ET on Tuesday nights on ESPN. After a short hiatus in 2004, it returned with a new name, Jim Rome Is Burning, and a late-night Thursday timeslot. In February 2005, JRIB became a daily program airing each afternoon at 4:30 PM in between NFL Live and Around the Horn. After ESPN expanded NFL Live to sixty minutes, JRIB moved to ESPN2 as part of its new afternoon lineup on September 12, 2011. It was produced by Mandt Bros. Productions in association with ESPN Original Entertainment and taped in Los Angeles as opposed to ESPN's Bristol, Connecticut headquarters. This was due to his daily radio commitment. The show ended on January 27, 2012 with the announcement that Rome had agreed to a contract with CBS, CBS Sports Network, and Showtime. Outside of some 4:3 non-essential game footage camera angles used in play analysis during NFL Matchup, Rome is Burning was the final program in the ESPN family of networks outside ESPN Classic to be produced in standard definition and never upgraded to high definition.